8910. 'You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, nor his male slave nor his female slave, nor his ox nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbour's' means that one must be on one's guard against self-love and love of the world, and so one must take care to prevent the evils contained in the preceding commandments from becoming present in the will and consequently going out of it. This is clear from the meaning of 'coveting' as a wanting that springs from an evil love. The reason why 'coveting' has this meaning is that all covetousness or craving exists as the result of some kind of love. For nothing is coveted unless there is a love of it, and therefore covetousness extends as a continuation from some kind of love, in this instance from self-love and love of the world. It is so to speak the life of what those loves breathe, for what an evil kind of love breathes is called covetousness or craving, whereas what a good kind breathes is called desire. The love itself belongs to one of two parts of the mind, which is called the will; for what a person loves, that he wills and intends. but covetousness belongs to both parts, to both the will and the understanding, that is, it is an attribute of the will within the understanding, to be precise. All this shows why it is that the words 'you shall not covet the things that are your neighbour's' mean that one must take care to prevent them from becoming present in the will, since what takes possession of the will becomes the person's own; for, to be sure, the will is the real person.

[2] The world believes that thought is the person. But there are two powers that constitute a person's life - understanding and will - and thought belongs to the understanding, the affection inherent in love being what belongs to the will. Thought without the affection inherent in love does not in any way at all constitute a person's life; but thought springing from such affection, that is, the understanding springing from the will, does constitute it. Those two powers are distinct from each other, which is evident to anyone who stops to reflect on the matter from the consideration that with his understanding a person can perceive that that thing is bad which his will desires, and that that thing is good which his will either does or does not desire. From all this it is plain that the will is the real person, not his thought, except so far as anything passes into it from the will. So it is that things which enter a person's thought but do not pass on through it into his will do not render him unclean; only those which pass through thought on into the will do so. The reason why the latter render a person unclean is that he takes them to himself then and makes them his; for the will, as has been stated, is the real person. The things which become part of his will are said to go into his heart and to go out from there, whereas those which are merely part of his thought are said to go into the mouth and to go out by way of the bowels into the sewer, according to the Lord's words in Matthew,

Not what enters the mouth renders a person unclean, but what comes out of the mouth, this renders the person unclean. Everything that goes into the mouth departs into the bowels and is cast out into the sewer. But the things which come out of the mouth come out of the heart, and these render a person unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, ravishments, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Matthew 15:11, 17-19.

[3] From these words as from all the others the nature of the Lord's manner of speaking becomes clear. That is, its nature was such that internal or spiritual matters were meant, but they were expressed by means of external or natural things and in accordance with correspondences. For the mouth corresponds to thought, and so do all parts of the mouth, such as the lips, tongue, and throat, while the heart corresponds to the affection inherent in love, and so to the will. For the correspondence of the heart to these, see 2930, 3313, 3883-3896, 7542. Consequently 'entering the mouth' is entering thought, and 'going out of the heart' is going out of the will. 'Departing into the bowels and being cast out into the sewer (or latrine)' is going away into hell; for the bowels correspond to the way to hell, while the sewer or latrine corresponds to hell itself. Hell also in the Word is called 'the latrine'. All this shows what is meant by 'everything that goes into the mouth departs into the bowels and is cast out into the sewer', namely that evil and falsity are introduced into a person's thought by hell and are discharged back there again. Such evil and falsity cannot render a person unclean because they are discharged from him. For a person cannot help thinking what is evil, but he can refrain from doing it. As soon however as he receives evil from his thought into his will it does not go out but enters into him; and this is said 'to enter the heart'. The things that go out from here are what render him unclean; for what a person desires in his will goes out into speech and action, so far as external restraints do not inhibit him, those restraints being fear of the law, and fear of the loss of reputation, position, gain, or life. From all this it is now evident that 'you shall not covet' means that one must take care to prevent evils from becoming present in the will and consequently going out of it.

[4] The fact that 'covetousness' is a craving or lusting on the part of the will, and so of the heart, is also clear from the Lord's words in Matthew,

You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that if anyone looks at a woman ¹ so that he lusts after her he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27-28.

'Lusting for' is used here to mean desiring in the will, and - but for the fears acting as external restraints - also doing. This is why it says that one who looks at a woman so that he lusts after her has committed adultery with her in his heart.

[5] Lusting after what is evil is also meant by 'the right eye causing one to stumble', and lusting after what is false by 'the right hand causing one to stumble' in the Lord's words, again in Matthew,

If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you; for it will be better for you that one of your members perish, than that your whole body be cast into gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away from you; for it will be better for you that one of your members perish, than that your whole body be cast into gehenna. Matthew 5:29-30.

From these words the Lord's way of saying things is again clear. That is to say, He was speaking from the Divine, as in every other place in the Word, in such a way that He expressed inward and heavenly matters through outward or natural ones in accordance with correspondences. In this instance He expressed an affection for evil or lusting after it by 'the right eye causing one to stumble', and an affection for falsity or lusting after it by 'the right hand causing one to stumble'. For the eye corresponds to faith, the left eye to the truth of faith, and the right eye to the good of faith, or in the contrary sense to the evil of faith, so that 'the right eye causing one to stumble' corresponds to lusting after what is evil, 4403-4421, 4523-4534. But the hand corresponds to the power that truth possesses, the right hand to the power of truth coming from good, or in the contrary sense the power of falsity coming from evil, so that 'the right hand causing one to stumble' corresponds to a lusting after it, 3091, 4931-4937, 8281. 'Gehenna' is the hell of lusts, cravings, or covetousness. Anyone may see that here 'the right eye' was not used to mean the right eye or that it was to be plucked out; also that 'the right hand' was not used to mean the right hand or that it was to be cut off, but that something other was meant. What this is cannot be known unless one knows what is really meant by 'the eye', in particular by 'the right eye', also what is meant by 'the hand', and in particular by 'the right hand', as well as what 'causing to stumble' really means. Nor can the meaning of these expressions be known except from the internal sense.

[6] Lusts, cravings, or covetous desires are what spring from an evil will, thus from a heart that is such; and according to the Lord's words in Matthew 15:19, murders, adulteries, ravishments, thefts, false witness, blasphemies come out of the heart or will, that is, the kinds of evils contained in the preceding commandments of the Decalogue. In all this lies the reason for saying that this - 'you must not covet the things which are your neighbour's' - means that one must take care to prevent the evils contained in the ''receding commandments from becoming present in the will and consequently going out of it. The reason why 'you shall not covet the things which are your neighbour's' also means that one must be on one's guard against self-love and love of the world is that all the evils composing covetousness well up from those loves as their source, see 2045, 7178, 7255, 7366 7377, 7488, 8318, 8678.

Footnotes:

3091. 'And she hastened and lowered her pitcher on to her hand' means the submission of the recipients which was accomplished by power. This is clear from the meaning of 'lowering' as an act of submission, from the meaning of 'a pitcher' as a recipient, dealt with in 3068, 3079, and from the meaning of 'the hand' as power, dealt with in 878. By the description 'the submission of the recipients which was accomplished by power' one means that matters of doctrine, cognitions, and facts, which are recipients, 3068, 3079, place themselves ready to receive, for a chain of subordination exists and so a readiness to receive, and consequently a submission, from the Prime Source of life, which is the Lord. Things in a lower position in it must be submissive because they ought to be of service to what is higher. Without their submission no joining together takes place. The power referred to here is received from truth. Truth is what submits those things that are beneath. It is to truth especially that power is attributed in the Word, and so it is truth to which the hands, the arms, and also the shoulders have reference - by which in the internal sense powers are meant, 878, 1085. Though it seems to be received from truth, power itself is in fact received from good by way of truth.

5008. 'And he left his garment in her hand' means that this outermost truth was removed. This is clear from the meaning of 'leaving in her hand' as leaving to its power and control, for 'the hand' means power or power and control, 878, 3091, 3387, 3563, 4931-4937, a removal being meant here since it is said that 'she took hold of his garment'; and from the meaning of 'a garment' as outermost truth, dealt with above in 5006. No one can begin to understand what is meant by a wish on the part of unspiritual natural truth to join itself to spiritual natural truth, or by the latter being filled with aversion to such a joining together and therefore leaving the outermost truth behind, that is, allowing this to be removed, except with the help of examples to shed light on the matter. But first, see what unspiritual natural truth is, and what spiritual natural truth is, in 4988, 4992; also the fact that the two are associated with each other so far as outermost things are concerned but that they are in no way joined to each other [4989].

[2] But, as has been said, examples will help to shed light on this matter. Take this one first. Within the Church there exists the unspiritual natural truth which says that good should be done to the poor, widows and orphans, and that doing good to these is the charity which is commanded in the Word. But unspiritual truth, or rather, people guided by unspiritual truth, understand the poor, widows and orphans to be those who are literally called such, whereas spiritual natural truth, or rather, people guided by this kind of truth - while giving their firm assent to this unspiritual natural truth - place such an understanding of the expression 'poor, widows and orphans' in the last or outermost position. For in their hearts they say that not all people calling themselves the poor are in fact such, and also that some of those who are poor lead very wicked lives, fearing neither God nor men, and ready to plunge into every unmentionable deed but for the fear that holds them back. They also say in their hearts that in the Word the expression 'the poor' is used to mean those who are such spiritually, that is to say, those who know and in their hearts confess that nothing good or true at all that originates in themselves resides with them and that everything that is there has been freely given them. The expressions 'widows' and 'orphans' are considered by them in a similar way, the difference being that each involves some different state. From this example it may be seen that to people guided by spiritual natural truth doing good to the poor, widows and orphans who are literally called such is an outermost truth, and that this outermost truth is like a garment covering the things within. One may also see that this outermost truth fits in with the truth as understood by those guided by unspiritual natural truth; and that even so the two are not joined together but have merely an association with each other.

[3] Take the example of doing good to the neighbour. Those guided by spiritual natural truth consider every individual person to be their neighbour, yet each one to be such in a different manner and degree. In their hearts they say that those governed by good are pre-eminently the neighbour to whom good should be done. They also say that those governed by evil are likewise the neighbour, but that good is done to these if they suffer the punishments prescribed by laws, because those punishments serve to correct them, as well as to prevent evil being done to the good by them and the bad examples they set. Those within the Church who are guided by unspiritual natural truth likewise call every individual person the neighbour; but they do not take into consideration the degree or manner in which each one is a neighbour. Therefore if motivated by natural goodness they do good indiscriminately, to everyone who moves them to pity, most of all to the evil rather than the good because the evil in their malice know how to arouse feelings of pity. From this example too one may see that this outermost truth brings together those guided by unspiritual natural truth and those guided by spiritual natural truth, and yet the two are still not joined together but have merely an association with each other, since one has a different idea and different perception from the other of the neighbour and of charity towards him.

[4] Take a further example. Those guided by spiritual natural truth say in general that the poor and the wretched are to inherit the kingdom of heaven. But for them this is an outermost truth since they gather up within this the belief that 'the poor' and 'the wretched' are those who are spiritually such, and that these are the ones meant in the Word, to whom the heavenly kingdom will belong. But those within the Church who are guided by unspiritual natural truth say that no others can inherit the kingdom of heaven but those who in the world have been reduced to poverty, live in wretched circumstances, and suffer greater affliction than everyone else. They also call riches, important positions, and worldly joys just so many distractions or means that divert a person from heaven. This example also shows what an outermost truth is and the nature of the harmony between the two kinds of natural truth; it shows that they are not joined together, but have merely an association with each other.

[5] Take this example too. Those guided by spiritual natural truth consider it an outermost truth that those objects which in the Word are called holy really were holy, such as the ark and mercy seat, the lampstand, the incense, the leaves, and so on, as well as the altar; also the temple; and Aaron's vestments too, which are called vestments of holiness - in particular the ephod together with the breastplate where the urim and thummim were. Yet the idea they have so far as this outermost truth is concerned is that those objects were not in themselves holy, nor had they had any holiness instilled into them, but that they were holy in a representative sense, that is to say, they represented the spiritual and celestial realities of the Lord's kingdom, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself. People guided by unspiritual natural truth however also call those objects holy, but holy in themselves because holiness has been instilled into them. From this one may see that the two kinds of truth meet but do not become joined to each other; for as the spiritual man's conception of that outermost truth is different from that of the merely natural man, a different form is taken by each.

[6] Take yet another example. To the spiritual man it is an outermost truth that all Divine truths can be substantiated from the literal sense of the Word, and also by means of the rational or intellectual concepts known to the enlightened. That same outermost or general truth is also accepted by the natural man, but he has the simple belief that everything is true which can be substantiated from the Word, above all that which he himself has substantiated from it. The spiritual man and the natural man meet each other therefore in their common acceptance of the idea that every Divine truth can be substantiated; yet one sees this general truth in a different way from the other. The merely natural man believes that whatever he himself has substantiated for himself, or else has heard others substantiate, is a Divine truth. He does not realize that falsity can be substantiated just as easily as truth, and that, once substantiated, falsity has all the appearance of truth; indeed it appears to be more true than the truth itself, because the illusions of the senses enter in and present it in the light of the world separated from the light of heaven.

[7] This too shows what outermost spiritual truth seems like to the natural man - like a garment. It also shows that when this garment is removed nothing at all is left to draw the two together, as a consequence of which the spiritual man no longer has anything with which to protect himself from the natural man, which considerations are meant by Joseph's leaving his garment behind, fleeing, and going out of doors. For the merely natural man does not acknowledge interior truths, and therefore when exterior ones are taken away or removed a severance instantly takes place. What is more, all the ideas introduced by the spiritual man to substantiate outermost truth are called falsities by the natural man since he has no ability to see whether the idea substantiated by the spiritual man is really true. It is not possible to see by natural light what belongs to spiritual light, for to do so is contrary to order. But seeing by spiritual light what belongs to natural light is in keeping with order.